Is It Just Me, Or Are Memories Sepia Colored?

I look back at all of these pictures of me posing with the people I have come to enjoy in Korea, and I am surprised to find that the photos are not also sepia. It all seems so long ago and, yet, still only yesterday. I can't believe I have lasted as long as I have. So long that I am 66% done with my stay already and have watched 4 coworkers go home. Back in the beginning I never imagined that the people I was with would leave so far ahead of me. I just assumed that we would all finish around the same time and all go through the same process of blending back into our real world lives. But I guess that all vanished around the time that Miss Honey was sent packing. I still thought the rest of us were safe, but Korea's crazy like that.

After we lost the hispanics, everything really started to change. With their departures happening within a week of each other, Boys' and Girls' Teams were both virtually disbanded. And in to fill the void, walked two power tools.

They didn't end up being as bad as I feared, but it was rocky for a while. Kids' Team did things differently. Different is so hard to adjust to sometimes. By the time I had fully accepted these replacements, the original tool was sent home. He boarded a plane this afternoon to begin his journey back into the real world. It's crazy, but I'm gonna miss him, too.


I hear people say, so often, "I wish I knew then what I know now."

I dont wish that. I'm glad I didn't know any better about hagwons and the crazy people who run them. I've had a crazy good time here with my kids and coworkers and knowing about the bosses would've stopped this adventure before it even began. I'm happier from not knowing any of these things back in December.

Much happier. I love Korea. And hagwons are only for a year. I can do that, just another 4 months. I'm tough. I'll get it done.

Every so often I like to look back over some of my thoughts and see how skilled I am at seeing into the future.
In February I thought I would get another turn being the teacher they dumped on, but failed to realize that I was actually the most experienced New School Employee. Having taught the very first class, meant that I probably would never get another turn as the least favorite teacher. My job was mostly secure. I also thought I'd be tan. So February wasn't my best month for future sight.

In March I was able to foretell that my fridge would fill itself with water and air and food would be scarce. I was still worrying that more giant furniture would somehow make it into my apartment. I need never have feared that though, the crazies left us alone for a while. I was still, however, convinced that I would be tan.

I did not anticipate the end of employment for my two friends in April and only made predictions about the new kids that were set to arrive that month. I thought Tooly would be yelled at all the time and we'd bond over his suffering. I thought Shadow would be alright since he was from Pittsburgh, and I guessed that ivleague would be anything but cool. So aside from not catching onto the firing and quitting vibes, I was pretty spot on in April.

In May I believed that I would have better korean than California. I was right.
In June, I predicted that Tooly would not make it to the end of his contract. Guess my future sight has been improving lately.

In July, I knew that I wouldn't have to worry about anyone yelling at me for a while, because they would be too busy breaking in my new roommate. I think first day firing counts as breaking in.

And I knew August was going to suck.

Looking back at all of my predictions, I seem to be getting pretty awesome at telling the future. That's how I know that September is going to be awesome.

Predictions:
1.) September is awesome.

See?
Here's one that is sepia.

Maybe I Can't Be Fired.

I missed the first half hour of my first class today. Incredible, right? I was at work a half hour early and got wrapped up in trying to catch up on everything, only to have Shadow come in at 2:25 and say, "Hey you got kids sitting in your class right now." I couldn't believe I let myself sink so completely into autopilot that I forgot I had to teach. Eight months ago, this would most certainly have sent me home.

And why did they just sit in there for so long without asking someone where their teacher was? Why didn't Narky do his usual nosy bit and alert me that I was slipping up? Class started 45 seconds ago?

Not that this is anyone's fault but my own. I've definitely lost focus lately. I have to make lists throughout the day to keep track of what needs to be done and what's already been accomplished and teaching is just not on those lists. I'm losing it.

And my Sunflower Class informed me that the class will be split in half on Wednesday. It's gotten 3 new students since I got it from Tooly and we no longer fit in any of the normal sized classrooms. Guess Ruby's tired of me messing up the board in her big grammar classroom. She hasn't mentioned the new class distribution, but I suspect she'll spring it on me wednesday a half hour before class. Whatever. As long as the class gets smaller- not bigger- I don't care.

Especially since she just handed me a new student. I was sitting in the Teachers' Lounge complaining to my roommate about the fact that I have no time to do anything and she had no classes all day, and suddenly another girl walks in.

"I'm starting classes here tomorrow, I'm looking for Erin?"
"Me? You're starting a class with me?"
"If you're Erin, then yes. Are there any books that I need?"
"Ummm... Did Ruby happen to mention when your class will be?"
"No, but I'm in 8th grade and she said you're my teacher."
I guessed and handed over books, "Ask Ruby if these are the ones she wants."

Something I never would've done had I been firing on full brain power. NEVER hand your books to students. Ruby will just assume it's okay to give them to the student until the next class. There goes any chance of accomplishing your work before class. It's gonna be another late night tomorrow.

Oh. And I have to come in early to teach that 30 minutes I missed this morning. I'm ready for September.

In 3D, the Korean Subtitles Pop Out at You, Too.

In an effort to kick this unreasonable fear of piranha, I took the other teachers (New Guy and Roomie) to see this terrifying 3D thriller.

It didn't work. Still scared of putting my feet into water where I can't see the bottom.

And now I'm afraid of underwater earthquakes.

So Maybe I'm a Little Competitive.

Whenever I walk by my roommate's room and hear her practicing her Korean, it sends me straight to my computer to get in as much practice as I can. I refuse to let this new girl pass me. I mean, come on, I've got 7 months on this chick.

Man. She's been here for 1 month now. She only has to put up with me for another 4 months.

Can she do it? Dunno. I'm pretty obnoxious...

"Erin Teacher's Father Works at Night."

A few months back, my kids were asking about the names of all of the members in my family, so, of course, I shared the info. Imagine my surprise today at hearing them change the example in the book, "Officer Smith works at night." Later in the same text, they created "Erin Teacher's mother wants peanuts, but she doesn't want candy." It used to just be Anne.

Stickers all around.

It's things like this that I make sure to hold onto when everything else around me starts dripping with crazy. My roommate nearly had a panic attack today when she had two students arrive for class at the same time. Two private lesson students. What made it better was that all of the Korean teachers had headed out for dinner at the same time. Isn't that cute. Us foreign teachers aren't allowed to do that. So she went to find Shadow to see if he could take one of them.

And in walks Shadow's student. I could tell something was up by the time they walked by the window of my room. I had this weird moment of nostalgia watching the two of them outside my window frantically pantomiming God only knew what. Finally, they cracked open the window. "Can we borrow you for a moment?"

I showed them where to find the list of phone numbers at the front desk so that she could call Narky and ask him what to do. Since it was his fault to begin with and he's sweet on her, I thought it might end better than if they called Ruby.

My kids thought it was dumb, too. "Where are all the Korean teachers?"

E: "Don't know."
K1: "Who made the schedule for her?"
E: "Not a clue"
K2: "So what is she going to do?"
E: "That is an excellent question."

I Don't Think That Means What You Think It Does.

There are so many situations that really make me question the level of these Korean teachers. There are just too many times when a conversation seems to go so horribly wrong for no other reason than a single sentence was mistranslated. Other times, we are left sitting and waiting for promises to be fulfilled. Are they just really good pretenders? Maybe they don't really know that much at all.

Tooly was fired twice and promised a plane ticket home. He has been unemployed and loitering for the last 2 weeks and finally decided to come in and see what was up.

R: "Oh! You have students waiting for you at the other school."
T: "Ruby... I was fired two weeks ago..."
R: "Yes, but you are going to teach kindergarten at the other school? You need to have at least 4 students for us to pay you the same amount."
T: "I think I would really rather just get back home."
R: "You don't want to teach them? You are quitting?"
T: "...it's not quitting. Remember? I was fired...? I just came in to ask about when I can expect that plane ticket home that we talked about."
R: "Oh, we didn't realize that you wanted to go home. No... we can't buy you a ticket. They are very expensive."

That's not what "fire" means, lady. Granted, this is a different country, society and work environment, but firing generally involves the removal of an individual from their position in a company. It tends to mean the dismissal of said individual. That usually cuts off relations with that former employee. But it doesn't seem to mean that here.

I have long suspected that Narky doesn't really know anything, but I think he knows this. Maybe he's just playing the Dumb Korean card the way I play the Dumb Foreigner card. Sometimes he says things, fully expecting that I will have to agree instead of argue to get my way. He is the boss's brother. Is it really worth the effort?

When he comes in to inform me at 9:15 that I will be starting my wednesday at 12pm, yes. I think it's definitely worth a "no." If I didn't have to stay til 11pm every night, I might be more sympathetic. No way in H am I putting in an 11 hour work day without some kind of overtime.

N: "Erin, do you remember that you have class tomorrow at noon?"
E: "Remember? No. I definitely don't have class at noon."
N: "Oh. Remember? Your two girls cannot come at 2, so you are going to come at 12? I thought you knew?"

Can't possibly remember something that never made it that far down the grapevine. And, no, I can't make it.
N: "What? Can't...?"
E: "Can't make it, no. I have things that I do in the morning, so I can't make it."
N: "...Did you told somebody?"
E: "I didn't realize that I was teaching a class at noon, but if someone had mentioned it, then, yes, I would have told them that I can't work at noon."
N: "But... remember..."
I am convinced you don't know what that word means. You actually need to experience something to recall it. "Remember" isn't something you say to inform me that you messed up and forgot to tell me back when you were scheduling this.

I could hear the exact moment that Ruby heard Narky's version of this conversation. I could hear her little hissy fit all the way back in the Teacher's Lounge. It was unreal. In between yelling things like "We are professional!" at the top of her lungs and stamping her feet and crying and shrieking in rapid Korean, she was throwing things all around the counter and her office. It was all I could do not to go out there and call her mother. I wouldn't have been surprised to see her fling herself down on the floor, kicking and screaming while spinning in a circle and hitting the ground with balled fists.

How could I ever have been afraid of that? Professional? Just another word they obviously aren't using correctly...

I was waiting for her to come back there and confront me. Having waited 4 weeks for her to return my things and having worked 10 hour days since I got back from vacation, I was actually excited about the confrontation. I'd like to see what happens to this school without me. It's not like I think I'm the best or anything, but I actually had students still hanging around for this. I would love to hear the version they explain to their parents about why Erin Teacher is no longer a New School employee.

It never came to that. I was amazed to find out that the screaming wasn't even about me. Oh man, Erin's lost her marbles...

No, I haven't. It's true. My roommate caused this little snafu. Actually, if we're being perfectly honest, Ruby did it to herself. Or Narky did it.

Anyways, Narky interrupted Britt's class to tell her that she was going to be teaching this class at noon.

B: " Sorry, I can't. I have a Skype date with my parents so I can't come in."

Then the screaming really took off.

Narky came back a few minutes later.
N: "I really think that you should come in tomorrow at noon."
B: "Narky I can't..."
He looks back over his shoulder.

N: "I REALLY think that you should come in tomorrow."
B: "Fine. I'll do what I can. In the future, you should know that it is very difficult to schedule times to speak with my parents. They work in a gold mine. Their schedules are completely different from each other's and mine, so it is almost impossible to speak to them both at the same time. I would like more warning than 15 hours next time. I'm happy to help when I can, but I need to know in advance."

She's still in the naive phase. The place where you believe that anything you say will have a lasting impression on them. She'll get over it. We all did. They'll do it again. "No," is really the only thing that makes any lasting impression.

Did I realize that someone would be teaching this class in my place? Of course. Did I know that my roommate would be the next name on the list? I expected it, but I forgot a couple key pieces of information. My roommate doesn't have her passport and can't say no. Even with a legitimate excuse (and certainly one that trumped my ambiguous "things" remark) she still had little choice but to bend to Ruby's will and come in 2 hours early for work.

I guess I feel bad about it. But the chick only has 1 class on wednesdays. She should be the first person they approach with crazy class time requests. I'm not going back to the days when I had to both open and close the school.

I should be worried about my job, I guess. But, hey, they just fired someone. They can't really afford to toss another teacher out on their butt.

Can it really be called tossing? I think I'd be walking out willingly.

Oh man, can you imagine? An 11 hour work day. This woman MUST be off her rocker.

I do prefer the Lounge after all the other teachers have gone though. I love how Narky comes in like he's the god of air cons everywhere and turns it off before he leaves. It's not like that has any effect. Just means I have to walk back over and turn it back on the second he rounds the corner.

How foolish. As if you have any control over the air conditioner after you leave. If you stuck around til crazy late, you could have some, but since you peace out first, you get no say.

I get this strange satisfaction from turning the air conditioner back on. Am I just trying to start things?

Maybe.

Hi, California.

Congratulations, you found the blog. I bet you're feeling pretty pleased with yourself, huh?

I'm putting an end to that smuggery right now. You never would've found it if Jenn and I hadn't dropped so many hints. Knowing the city and the aliases really gave you an edge.

So I guess what I'm saying is that you need to wipe that smug look off your face, you're not that smart.

And your hair is silly.